you. congress and the president have just 40 days to avoid the so- called fiscal cliff. when the ball drops on new year's eve, tax hikes and severe spending cuts will kick in automatically unless a deal is reached. wyatt andrews spoke with two men who say they know how it should be done, if only washington would listen. >> reporter: two years ago, the fiscal commission chaired by democrat erskine bowles and former republican senator alan simpson proposed every basic element of the fiscal cliff solution being discussed now. their plan was a mixture of higher taxes, lower spending and the reform of medicare and social security. both men told us sacrifice has to come from everyone. >> all of us have to have some skin in the game to get it done. >> if you want something, pay for it. it's a sick idea, but it is an interesting idea. >> reporter: their biggest idea was to increase revenue by combining both the president's demand for higher taxes on the rich and the republican proposal to get rid of tax loopholes. bowles/simpson would eliminate almost every tax deduction for individuals and c

his fiscal cliff negotiations with congressional republicans. that's a nod to republicans because they prefer geithner over the president's chief of staff jack lew who republicans believe is stridently opposed to big changes to health care entitlements like medicare and medicaid. white house officials insist though geithner will be in the lead, jack lew won't be far from the fiscal cliff talks. >> pelley: major, what is the white house willing to put on the negotiating table? >> scott, just about everything except social security. the president argues that social security is not driving the deficit problem. it has solvency issues of its own but the president wants those dealt with downstream, sometime next year and on a separate track. now congressional republicans, especially those eager-- or at least willing-- to raise tax revenue want social security, medicare and medicaid as part of the fiscal cliff negotiations. if that's the price tag of a grand bargain, the white house says at least where social security is concerned it's not going to buy. scott? >> pelley: major, thanks ve

that is going to affect your taxes in just 34 days. that is the so-called fiscal cliff: automatic tax increases and federal budget cuts that will be imposed unless president obama and congress can make a deal on budget reform. not even everyone in the president's own party is with him on this and nancy cordes is on capitol hill for us tonight. nancy? >> reporter: scott, a rift has opened up between the white house and liberal democrats over what should be on the table in these talks. some democrats even say they're willing to let all the bush tax cuts expire, at least temporarily, even if they don't get the deal they want. senator patti murray of washington state is one of them. she says negotiations should focus far more on raising tax revenue than cutting spending. republicans are calling democrats like you "thelma and louise" democrats because you've expressed a willingness to go off the fiscal cliff. >> i'm willing to take a very tough stand and say to those on the other side that we are not going to accept an unfair deal that hurts middle-class america today and protect the wealthiest amer

to make the pill available without a prescription. we'll talk to one of america's fiscal cliff. >> the big nut is going to have to be medicare and medicaid. >> pelley: and jim axelrod with a woman on a mission to recover memories sandy washed away. >> the storm can take our houses and possession bus she left us these photos. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. at the end of the most violent day yet in the battle between israel and the hamas government in gaza, secretary of state hillary clinton arrived in jerusalem to try to broker a cease-fire. but late today things looked frosty between the secretary and israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. faces were long and comments were short. she had just flown ten hours, leaving president obama behind on a tour of cambodia throughout this day there were rumors of peace but israel unleashed a ferocious bombardment of gaza from air and sea. the palestinians and gaza fired back. since this started last week, 133 palestinians have been killed in 1,500 israeli air strikes. five isr

Excerpts 0 to 3 of about 4 results.